Dr Google may be helpful in the emergency department

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2018-08-20 00:01

Patients who Google their symptoms before heading to the emergency department have better interactions with their doctors, according to Melbourne researchers. A survey of 400 patients at Melbourne hospitals found 49 per cent regularly use the internet for health-related information, and around 80 per cent agreed the searches helped them better understand their health provider and ask more informed questions during the consultation. Patients were also unlikely to disobey doctor recommendations based on their internet searches, according to the study, but googling their ailments did make 40 per cent of patients anxious. The researchers suggest doctors acknowledge and be prepared to discuss ED patients’ online searches.

Journal/conference: Medical Journal of Australia

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne

Funder: Competing interests: No relevant disclosures.

Media Release

From: The University of Melbourne

DR GOOGLE CAN HELP PATIENTS TALK TO THEIR DOCTORS

MOST patients who search their symptoms online before presenting to an emergency department have improved interactions with their treating doctor, and their internet search does not adversely affect their compliance with prescribed treatments, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

A 51-item purpose-designed survey was administered to 400 adult patients who presented to emergency departments at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Austin Health between 1 February and 31 May 2017. A total of 196 (49.0%) indicated that they regularly used the internet for health-related information; 139 (34.8%) reported searching for information on the problem for which they had presented to the ED.

Searching had a net positive effect for 150 searchers (77.3%); a net negative effect was reported by 32 searchers (16%), while no effect was reported by 14 participants (7%). A total of 132 of 195 participants (68.4%) agreed or strongly agreed that searching helped them communicate more effectively with health providers; 155 respondents (79.5%) agreed or strongly agreed that searching helped them better understand their health provider during the consultation; 155 (80.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that searching allowed them to ask more informed questions. However, 76 respondents (40%) agreed or strongly agreed that gathering information from the internet made them worried or anxious.

A total of 153 respondents (78.9%) indicated that internet-derived health information never or rarely led them to doubt their diagnosis or treatment; 174 (91.1%) had never or rarely changed a treatment plan advised by a doctor because of online health information.

“Searching for online health information had a positive impact on the doctor–patient relationship, particularly for patients with greater e-health literacy, and was unlikely to cause patients to doubt the diagnosis by a practitioner or to affect adherence to treatment,” Dr Anthony Cocco, a medical intern at St Vincent’s Melbourne, and his co-authors wrote.
“We therefore suggest that doctors acknowledge and be prepared to discuss with adult ED patients their online searches for health information.”

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The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

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